Land's End (27 jun 12)

French children are all well-behaved. They get off the bus singing, rather than mouthing obscenities like some of their English counterparts *. NONE of the girls are overweight, like many of their American counterparts.

It turns out that England really has had an influx of half a million Poles or so - it's not my imagination. At one time, I would have been nervous about commenting on the number of foreigners in Britain!

English men and women are always shouting at each other, when they're not discussing their personal lives loudly on their mobile phones while walking down the street. "You're not listening to me!" is said more often in real life than it is in soap operas. Someone I know actually said that to me. She's not my friend any more.

* To be honest, I couldn't follow their French, so I can't be sure their songs were moral and uplifting. But I got that impression.